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Harvest Public Media is a reporting collaboration focused on issues of food, fuel and field. Based at KCUR in Kansas City, Harvest covers these agriculture-related topics through an expanding network of reporters and partner stations throughout the Midwest.Most Harvest Public Media stories begin with radio- regular reports are aired on member stations in the Midwest. But Harvest also explores issues through online analyses, television documentaries and features, podcasts, photography, video, blogs and social networking. They are committed to the highest journalistic standards. Click here to read their ethics standards.Harvest Public Media was launched in 2010 with the support of a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Today, the collaboration is supported by CPB, the partner stations, and contributions from underwriters and individuals.Tri States Public Radio is an associate partner of Harvest Public Media. You can play an important role in helping Harvest Public Media and Tri States Public Radio improve our coverage of food, field and fuel issues by joining the Harvest Network.

Bird Flu Found in the Midwest

Amy Mayer/Harvest Public Media
Investigators have discovered avian flu in commercial poultry flocks in Minnesota, Missouri and Arkansas.

A highly contagious strain of bird flu has officially made its way to the Midwest.  The disease was confirmed Tuesday in two separate commercial turkey flocks in Missouri, according to the Missouri Department of Agriculture and the USDA.

Investigators also found an inflected flock in Arkansas, the USDA said Wednesday (PDF). Arkansas is the nation’s third-largest turkey producer and the home of the world’s largest chicken company, Tyson Foods.

The virus, called H5N2 Avian Influenza, is not a threat to human health, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). But the strain of flu found in Missouri is the same that had been previously found in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Minnesota.

In Missouri, the state agriculture department said it quarantined infected flocks and said the birds “will not enter the food system.”

After the disease was found in flocks in the Northwest, China and South Korea banned the import of all U.S. poultry products. Other countries have instituted bans on products from specific U.S. states or regions in response to avian flu concerns.

The strain of avian flu is thought to spread mostly through contact with infected wild birds. The virus’ discovery in Missouri is significant, according to Politico, “as Missouri lies in the middle of the Mississippi Flyway, a bird migratory pattern that follows the Mississippi River in the United States and the Mackenzie River in Canada.”

Biosecurity can keep poultry flocks healthy, which is vital to the $44 billion dollar U.S. poultry and egg industry. Day-to-day precautions like limiting contact between poultry farms and disinfecting the boots of workers as they go in and out of barns can help.